Tire Problems

[raptor06]

First of all, hello everyone this is my first post ever in this forums, though I have been lurking them for quite some time now.

Here is my problem, about two weeks ago I drove by a construction site and a huge nail got into one of my tires. Needless to say, I had to replace it with the spare tire and I took the flat tire to a firestone located near my place. The guys at the firestone told me that there was no way of patching the tire because the nail did too much damage to it (I also saw the tire, and I assure you the guy wasn't lying, the nail went all the way through and opened multiple holes). Since the tires were near their useful life, I decided to place a order for for new tires (I have the original tires, so I decided to place an order for the same kind of tires) and the people at firestone told me that they should be there by a week. One week after, I gor the news that the tires were in back order because bridgestone wasn't making them any more, and that I could be expecting a wait of as much as 6 months. I decided to give up with them and call my local isuzu dealer to tell them about my problem. The told me me they will place a complain to isuzu and that (again) I should expect my tires in a week. It has been over a week now, and everytime I call the dealer they tell me that this is a day by day problem, so they won't have any information about the tires until they get them, which is really ****ty. In any case, I want to know if you know about any place where I can find the original tires faster, or the specification and make of tires that work with a VX. I know for a fact that bridgestone is (or was )the only manufacturer the makes tires with those dimensions, but I am willing to look into tires with different dimension as long as they don't affect the performance of my Vx by a big deal and that don't affect the style of it. I don't have the money to change the wheel, so the tires have to be 18", bu other than that I am willing to look into more possibilities. I am desperate, I need to drive my car

Wow, I wrote a lot for a first post lol

Thank you in advanced for all you help

[johnnyapollo]

There are several tire manufactorers that produce tires that meet the original factory spec-ed Bridgestones. The originals are P245/60R18 mud-and-snow all-season. If you do a search on Tirerack.com:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...rk=1&x=10&y=12

I put Pirelli Scorpions 255 55H18 V-rated on my VX - the change in dimensions place the general tired dimensions at the same level, so that the speedometer/odometer are unaffected. You may safely change your tires even more drastically - several on this list has done so - however some trimming of the front cladding may be involved. Do a search for "tires" to see the additional threads. At Tirerack, you have additional options at this size:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...ark=1&x=9&y=11

-- Best, John

[raptor06]

Thanks, that will help me a lot.....you have no idea how hard is to be without a car for more than two weeks

I will post an update as soon as I get the tires... thanks again

[mrtew]

Don't waste your money on those skinny little family car donuts the VX came with! There are some beautiful tires in size 285/60/18 that will make your truck look ten times as good and perform even better! You'll be happy you looked around. If you're desperate for the stock tires for some reason I'm sure the Discount tires on Van Dyke road in Centerline, MI still has my brand new ones that I traded in three years ago when my VX was one week old! Call them!

[ScottinMA]

Originally posted by mrtew
Don't waste your money on those skinny little family car donuts the VX came with! There are some beautiful tires in size 285/60/18 that will make your truck look ten times as good and perform even better! You'll be happy you looked around. If you're desperate for the stock tires for some reason I'm sure the Discount tires on Van Dyke road in Centerline, MI still has my brand new ones that I traded in three years ago when my VX was one week old! Call them!

I'm running zeros in size 285/50/18s and they look cool but track like a ski in snow. A couple spin outs last winter. They're coming off this winter and I'll be wearing those skinny little famly donuts that it came with.

[raptor06]

ok, I have been looking in tirerack.com, and this is what I ahev found that I am interestet in:

My top 2 options are:

Yokohama Geolandar H/TS 255/55H/R18 or

Michellin 4 x 4 XPC 255/55HR18

both have good reviews in all categories (which is important since we get evary kind of weather condition here in Boston)

I also look into:

Yokohama 265/60/R18 and
Michellin 275/55/R18

but I am not sure about this last two because I don't know if it will require modifications for my ruck or if the preformance will be affected.

In any case, tomorrow I will be calling the yokohama and michellin dealers close to my place to get info about price and avalability, but I would sill like to hear your input... thanks

[johnnyapollo]

Make sure you look at the Kumho ECSTA STX - I've heard many praise this great value tire.

The other thing you may want to try is to find the tires you want, then go to NTB and ask them if they will price match. I ended up paying $105 each for my Pirelli Scorpions (plus mounting, etc) - ended up saving my about $400 on retail. They had to be ordered though. I took in print-outs from Tirerack and NTB were very accomidating. I updated my valve stems to SS while I was at it.

-- Best, John

[Joe_Black]

The Kumho Ecsta STX is an incredible tire! Unbelieveably quiet and smooth ride, not to mention grippy! Just got a set in 255/55VR18 from Tire Rack for $101 each.

[raptor06]

I got the Pirelly scorpions 255/55/R18... I couldn't be more happy

The truck looks great and drives a lot better than with the original tires... thanks again for all you help